Two Years Later: Is the Apple Vision Pro Worth Buying?
I’m history’s last true pioneer. Two years after its launch, I finally got my hands on the Apple Vision Pro VR/AR headset, and I feel like I showed up at a party at 4 a.m., just in time to see the last stragglers hail a cab. In the more innocuous days of 2024, Apple claimed the Vision Pro would “usher in a new era of computing,” but it’s become a cautionary tale for the industry, proof that creating a product that’s (arguably) better than everything else on the market guarantees nothing.
I’ve been wearing this thing on my face almost 24/7 for the past week, and it’s incredibly annoying. It’s incredibly cool, one of the most impressive things I’ve ever used, but I don’t need it. It barely answers the most basic question: “What am I going to do with it?” Many people asked that same question when it first came out, and from my perspective as someone who bought it later, the answer still hasn’t been answered.
The Apple Vision Pro design is… astronaut style.
I absolutely love the Vision Pro’s design. The aluminum gray with orange accents and the curved faceplate screams “NASA Moon mission!” It feels like it’s about to launch you into orbit . It’s so elegant: a single piece of curved glass doubles as an optical lens for the cameras and a display for the Eyesight feature, which lets others see your eyes outside the headset. The aluminum frame hugs your face, and the soft sun shield attaches magnetically. The build quality and finish (as they used to say in car magazines) are also top-notch. Nothing rattles. Not a single knob or button feels cheap. The Vision Pro feels solid and substantial, making it clear that this is hardware , not a toy.
But this also makes it quite heavy. The Vision Pro weighs between 26.4 and 28.2 ounces, which is about the same weight as an iPad Pro and a half. The headband (significantly improved in the latest version of the Vision Pro) and external battery do a great job of keeping the headphones from sagging, but after a while—maybe an hour or two, depending on your neck muscles—you’ll definitely feel their weight.
The Apple Vision Pro’s specs are so good that they’re practically irrelevant.
I could go into detail about the Vision Pro’s specs, the micro-OLED displays, the dual-chip architecture with the M2 and R1 processors, and all that, but the most important thing is what this technology does: it’s mind-blowing.
After a simple setup, the first thing I did was launch the free “Encounter Dinosaurs” app that comes with the device. It opens a window into a prehistoric world. I’m sitting there enjoying the dinosaur drama on a 10-foot-tall virtual screen, a little overwhelmed by its perfect detail, when that damn Rajasaurus pokes its entire head into my living room. Then it makes eye contact with me. Feeling like real prey, I exclaimed out loud, “Wow!” and the creature reacted . Everything feels completely real. The lighting matches the lighting in your room. The sound comes from all directions. It’s simply stunning.
I was ready to embark on a real dinosaur adventure in my new space helmet, but then the tech demo ended. It was just a few minutes of dazzling spectacle. “Encounter with Dinosaurs” is the quintessential Vision Pro experience: a tease, a hint of spaceflight, and then the revelation that you’re the third alternate astronaut who might get to walk on the moon if Congress doesn’t first cut Apollo funding.
But the technology is simply stunning . The eye-scanning and gesture-based interface (no controllers) is flawless, making it feel like you’re controlling the computer with your mind. Spatial audio is impeccable. Integration with other Mac devices works seamlessly. The graphics are crisp and vibrant—pixels are completely invisible. You can even use it for various tasks.
What it’s like to use the Apple Vision Pro for work and play.
I’m completely immersed in spatial thinking right now. I have a widescreen image from my laptop in front of me, a music app open, and Olympic skiing in another window. I merge the laptop screen with the apps on the headset, scaling and positioning everything in the virtual space, navigating with my eyes and gestures. Everything works perfectly. It’s like living in the future. And the future is exhausting . It’s not just the weight of the headset becoming more noticeable with each passing minute, or the headache from eye strain I feel, but the sheer maximalism of it; it’s too much. I’m sure some people enjoy it, but I feel like I need to escape, maybe to a nice beach or somewhere.
But the Vision Pro’s streaming quality is superb, as good as, if not better than, your TV, whether you’re watching movies from major streaming services, immersing yourself in an NBA game or a Metallica concert (both stunning, by the way), or simply scrolling through TikTok. The colors are gorgeous. There’s not the slightest hint of edge blur. Two micro-OLED displays create a virtual screen of approximately 3660 x 3200 pixels per eye. That’s better than 4K on a display that could be the size of a movie screen. No complaints there.
In terms of gaming, the situation is mixed. Clearly, Apple didn’t design the Vision Pro with gamers in mind. The Vision Pro can be connected to a PC or Mac for more complex gaming, but there are no true AAA titles designed specifically for the device. There are, however, a few cool smaller titles. I was very impressed by the recently released Retrocade , a collection of flawless ports of 1980s arcade games. These are the best ports I’ve ever played, because you’re playing on perfectly recreated virtual arcade cabinets, detailed right down to the reflections on the CRT screens. But it’s a bit sad that the best use of cutting-edge consumer technology in 2026 in gaming is Frogger . There’s so much to offer, but the Vision Pro games section in the App Store is rather lonely. I downloaded a few random games—a shooter, a horror game—and they were all essentially demos. Overall, there are few apps for the Vision Pro in the App Store, and most are quickly forgotten. Two years later, the ecosystem has still not developed, which is a shame given the opportunities it offers.
I’m not sure what exactly I want from the Vision Pro. It’s cutting-edge technology that lets me stream HD movies, play a few simple games, or work in a new way. Isn’t that enough? Perhaps. My computer is a rental, but if I’d spent $3,500 on the Vision Pro, I wouldn’t have thought, “That was a good investment.” However, it’s not just about the money; it’s also about the inconvenience.
What augmented reality looks like on the Apple Vision Pro.
While the Apple Vision Pro offers a fully immersive virtual reality experience, the focus has always been on augmented reality—real life but with digital effects—but it’s not truly AR . You can walk around in the headset, but you see the world through camera lenses with a 100° x 75° field of view, roughly half the real world’s field of view. Furthermore, the external cameras are significantly inferior in image quality to the display, so “reality” is blurry at the edges, while “augmented” is crisp. Despite all the advantages of the technology, using the Vision Pro still feels uncomfortable and alienating, especially when transitioning from AR to real life. This sense of unreality, combined with the need to place a heavy object on your face, makes using the Vision Pro a tedious experience. It’s the kind of device I’d use infrequently—take it out to show a friend how cool it is, or take it on my next flight—but I haven’t seen any truly cool apps that compensate for the inconvenience of using it enough to make me use it more often.
Okay, except for that dinosaur thing. I want augmented reality to be exactly that , but for longer than just a few minutes. I want something transformative, transcendental, something that can’t be experienced any other way, something that justifies the weight and digital claustrophobia. Unfortunately, it looks like Apple won’t be releasing the Apple Vision 2 anytime soon. The future is smart glasses, and it will be several years (if ever) before augmented reality comes close to wearing glasses. Until then, I’ll wait for the dinosaurs to return.